


a run-in with the law

by tara_stofse



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Gen, Jack respects Dot a lot, Kinda?, MFMM Break Down the Door Challenge, Post-Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, bonding at a crime scene, dot is awesome, or post season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:41:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23758567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tara_stofse/pseuds/tara_stofse
Summary: Jack runs into Dot while investigating a possible murder.
Relationships: Jack Robinson & Dorothy "Dot" Williams
Comments: 14
Kudos: 82
Collections: Break Down the Door Challenge





	a run-in with the law

**Author's Note:**

> For prompt #17 of the Break Down the Door challenge: Two characters literally run into each other.

"Oh!" the figure cried in surprise as they both rounded the corner at the same time from opposite directions, walking straight into each other. Jack grabbed onto its shoulders to stop them both from falling over. To his surprise, he found himself looking down at a familiar face.

"Miss Wi... Dot," he corrected himself. "What are you..." he stopped, not wanting to be rude. All the same - he glanced over her shoulder at the decrepit alley - what was she doing there?

“Inspector Robinson, what a surprise,“ she stammered.

He regained his composure. “It’s lovely to see you,” he said with warmth. “Are you looking for Hugh?”

“Oh! No, I wasn’t… looking for Hugh.”

Jack frowned, then smiled slightly. Maybe Phryne finally managed to rope Dot back in. He knew that she had missed working with Dot since the birth of little Joan Collins. “Did Miss Fisher send you?”

If Dot wasn’t looking guilty before, she was now.

“Ah, no. I was just-” Her cheeks flushed with the effort of finding a plausible answer. She looked over her shoulder before turning back to him. “Please don’t tell Hugh.”

His befuddled expression must have worried her, because she hastened to explain. “It’s just… we agreed I would wait a couple of months after the baby was born before I started working again, if I did at all. But Hugh often talks over his cases with me, even though he shouldn’t, which is awfully nice of him, because he knows how much I miss solving cases with Miss Fisher; and this morning something about the case we discussed last night struck me and-“ she finally had to take a breath, “It’s silly, but I just couldn’t wait. I wanted to see if I could figure it out myself, so I left Joan at a neighbor, because we sometimes take turns to look after each other’s children. ”

Jack stared at her for a few seconds before realizing she was waiting for a response.

“I, uh, won’t say a word to Hugh,” he said, and sincerely hoped that she would eventually speak to her husband about it. “But… did you come here alone? I don’t want to impose, but this neighborhood is rather…”

“Oh, no, of course not. Cec and Bert are waiting for me in the cab,” she said hurriedly. It was only then that Jack noticed the familiar car parked at the end of the alley with two figures inside. He lifted an arm in a small wave and saw one silhouette (probably Cec) wave back.

“Well, Mrs. Collins,” he said, turning back to her with a small smile, “given the fact that we are both here for the same reason, maybe we could be of mutual benefit to each other. If you tell me what it was you’ve noticed about the case, I’ll fill you in on anything Hugh might not have told you?”

Her face lit up with delight. “That would be wonderful, Inspector. Would you mind if we go and look where the body was found?”

Jack followed her eyes. Clearly she already knew where that was.

“Lead the way,” he said, gesturing.

They walked over to the spot. Dot bent down and examined the ground.

“Hugh said that there wasn’t any proof of foul play,” she said. “He said it looked as though Miss Jones had stepped out of this back door, slipped on the stairs, which were wet from the rain, and hit her head on the bottom stair at just the wrong angle. But he said that that seemed rather unlikely and that you thought it was suspicious as well.”

She looked up at him to confirm that she had the facts right. He nodded slightly.

“On the photos of the scene Hugh showed me, I could see some mud stains on Miss Jones’ stockings,” Dot continued. Jack mentally sighed at his constable’s inability to keep confidential police matters confidential, but then he had to smile at his own hypocrisy. It wasn’t as if he himself could keep anything from Phryne, and Dot clearly was a force to be reckoned with as well.

“Those stains reminded me of the stains I always had to wash out of one of my nieces’ stockings,” Dot said, standing up. “She used to drag her feet wherever she went, so the mud would always splatter onto her stockings. But on the photos, it looked like the stains were only on the back of her legs. And there’s some mud caked on the heels of her shoes, but not on her toes.”

“Almost like it wasn’t she who dragged her feet, but rather someone else who dragged her,” Jack said.

Dot nodded enthusiastically. “And with the amount of mud on her shoes, there has to be marks on the ground where she was dragged. If it rains again, or if the murderer realizes the marks are there, they will be lost.”

“Then we’d better find them before either of those things happen,” Jack said seriously before his lips quirked upwards.

Dot returned his smile happily.

They found drag marks a few alleys up. Conveniently, the alley was a dead-end except for one door, making that the obvious target in further investigations.

Jack turned to her. “I’m afraid I’ll have to go and fetch Hugh and a few others for this, Mrs. Collins.”

Earlier, she had seemed slightly surprised at his lack of protests against her help. The truth was that he admired the way she used her knowledge of domestic matters to find the lead. He was rather surprised at how pragmatic she was.

Dot nodded at him. “Of course,” she said, looking slightly deflated as the thrill of following the lead wore off. “I’ll be on my way.” She gave him a small smile and turned in the direction they came from.

“I’ll escort you,” he said, falling into step with her. “And thank you. Your help has been invaluable.”

She flushed with pleasure, but simply nodded at him, her smile a lot wider now.

They reached the alley where they had first run into each other. The cab was still at the end of it with the two bored looking figures inside.

Dot turned to him. “Thank you, Inspector. For not telling Hugh, and for letting me help.”

“I understand why Miss Fisher enjoys working with you so much,” he said with a smile and a nod before he became serious again. "You know, she really misses working with you. "

"Really?" Her face lit up, then fell again. "But I couldn't, not with the baby-"

Jack shrugged. "Probably not to the same extent as before, but you know Phryne has a plan for everything." He gave her a conspiring look. "Maybe she'll get Mr. Butler to brush up on his babysitting skills."

Dot gave a delighted laugh and smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you, Inspector. I'll go and talk to Miss Fisher."

He nodded at her and watched with a small smile as she walked over to the cab and got in.

**Author's Note:**

> Dot and Jack have a really lovely relationship and I feel like it's underappreciated.   
> Also, I really love how efficient and capable Dot is season 3. I feel like the itch to investigate would still be there, even after she starts a family.


End file.
